Culture Jam

I finished the book "Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge- And Why We Must", by Kalle Lasn (Founder of Adbusters Magazine). This is a more political and extreme entry, but it is needed. Please do not be defensive of your destructive choices. We all make them sometimes, and it feels almost unavoidable in our country, to not consume or support corporations that take money from your land, time from your bodies, attention from your children, but you can begin today by choosing not to support companies that you do not appreciate taking these things. Fat Cats growing richer, while our food system and local economy grow weaker. Food chains do NOTHING to contribute to our enrichment, or that of the planet.

I am so sickened by walking down the streets and seeing mass installations of fucked up fast food chains. The pollution they put out, the raping of the soil and food system that they stand for. The money they steal. The actual cost that is not accounted for- the drain their products put on human bodies, and our health care system. The crap they call food. The way every time they open a grease factory, the local business suffers and fails. Bye bye mom and pop shops next door, that actually serve legit, local and fresh food.

All I thought of last night, on my way home, watching the sadly obese walk out of KFC is climbing up the roof of the place and painting a skull over Cornel Sanders face. Grease kills. Corporate America rapes and kills. Don't be a slave to the consumerism. Every time you choose to spritz lemon in your water instead of opening a Coke, every time you choose NOT to stop for fast food (and pack a lunch), you are making a choice for the better of yourself and the world. You are voting with that choice. You do make a difference, everyday.

Here are some words or Kalle's, and some of mine in-be-tween, along with some links.

L'Chaim! To your health!

"A day in your life:
8 AM: You are biting into a hashbrown from McDonalds. The grease shines on your chin like baby oil. You are reminded of your childhood.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW: One out of every 4 restaurant-prepared breakfasts in the US is eaten at McDonalds. Every three hours a new McDonald's opens somewhere in the world. The company spends over $1 BILLION a year on advertising."

The food is shit. Grease. Left over animal products. Genetically modified foods. HEAVILY processed and sprayed with herbicides and pesticides and more chemicals. 50 % of the calories in a big mac come from straight up Fat. The oil they use for frying their foods is so altered many doctors agree that some bodies can simply NOT process it. Hence cellulite. Hence artery clogging. Colon cancer. If you disagree, or would like more information, please check out "Diet for a New America", "Diet for a Small Planet", "Fast Food Nation", and "Deep Economy". All these books have changed my life.

"9:30 AM: You are pushing a card down the asile of your neighborhood supermarket, past little pyramids of shiny apples and peppers. You marvel at the food system able to deliver asparagus in Feb. You toss a nice ripe red tomato in the basket.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW: These vegetables were pumped full of chemicals to enable them to grow in poor soil and survive the voyage to market. The apples and peppers shine because of thick, PETROLEUM-based waxes. The nice red tomato, a "Flavr Savr", is genetically speaking part flounder. (The technology for this process is owned by chemical giant Monsanto)."

The amount of pesticides and other chemicals in our food is staggering. GO ORGANIC. For the future. For your body. For your health. For deceasing your chances of cancer and of cancer in our environment. Go organic for the rivers, lakes, streams. For the animals. Go organic for the mother who is nursing her baby next door, and who's American breast milk contains 4 times the amount of DDT than what the USDA and FDA deem safe. Go organic because you care about yourself, others, and or your environment."

http://www.nrdc.org/breastmilk/chem2.asp

"Cash crops like cocoa, sugar, coffee, and bananas- generally are grown to supply the First World- pull more and more land away from traditional food crops and fail to protect the soil, often leading to famine. The food you eat comes from where ever it can be grown the most cheaply.

Americans consume more calories per capita, more snacks between meals and more sugar-rich sodas than anyone else. Fat makes up almost 40 percent of all the calories we consume.

9:00PM: Evening snack of diet Coke.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW: Flight attendants sometimes use diet Coke to unclog sinks in commercial jets. "

For every diet soda you drink you increase you chance of staying over weight by 41%. Maybe these numbers are debatable, but medical journals around the world are being flooded with long term studies about how horrible these chemicals are for your body. Slowing metabolism and messing with internal systems. When breast cancer cysts are removed- they have the trace chemicals of these "sugar free" products. Don't drink that shit. It's unnatural, its unsafe, you are not going to be skinner. You are not saving calories.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight